Project runway: Space edition
by TheForeverGirl20
Summary: Lance complains about Keith's fashion taste, only to be roasted by the others. Shameless Klance.
1. Roast Fest

Project runway: Space edition

Lance complains about Keith's fashion, only to be roasted by the others.

It's been relatively quiet in the universe, there had been no need for The Legendary Defenders in about week. The paladins of Voltron and the last Alteans took this as a blessing and used the calm for some much-needed R&R.

Everyone gathered in the common room of The Castle of Lions. Allura and Coran are playing what appeared to be an Altean version of Old maid. Shiro is doing pushups while Pidge is working on some tech on top of his back. Hunk is devolving another recipe for tonight's dinner. And, Keith is sharping one of his many knifes.

All was calm and quite with the comforting hum of the castle as it flew through space. That is until Lance barges in.

"I'd like to thank you all for coming to this meeting." He said as he confidently struts to the others.

"Meeting what meeting?" Allura asked confused, "I don't remember calling a meeting."

"That's cause I called this meeting, Princess." A wink was thrown her way.

Shiro gets up from the floor causing Pidge to tumble off his back in a comedic form and on to the floor. "Lance what meeting are you taking about?" he said in his natural leader tone.

"The Intervention, of course."

"Intervention for what?" Came from Pidge on the floor.

"The Intervention for Keith's Fashion sense or, lack thereof" Lance gestures at Keith.

Keith was visually offended by this, "What the hell, Lance?!"

"Now Keith we're all friends here, we just want what's best for you." Lance said in a fake comforting tone.

"You're the worst kind of friend!" Keith yells back.

The once quite room now exploded with noise, questions and yelling, mostly from Keith whose temper was growing.

Coran gets up from the couch to Lance. "Lance, my boy, what's the meaning of all this?"

"Yeah what gives?" Hunk chimes in.

"Seriously what the hell?!" yells Keith still steaming.

"Keith, calm down." Shiro glance back to him. "Well Lance?"

Lance paces around the common room in a very seriously manner like what he says holds any gravity. "It's a problem that's being plaguing this entire ship for weeks? Months? However long we've been in space." He stops in his tracks to point an accused finger at Keith. "Keith's cloths have been stinking up all of space."

"Well it's quite impossible to 'stink up' all of space, my boy" Coran pops up Lance's bubble.

"Thanks, Coran. But it's more of an expression." Lance corrects him "Never the less! Keith has crappy style!"

If Keith had a tea pot on his head, the tea pot would be set a flame. He sits quietly with his arms crossed, plotting how to murder Lance and make it look like an accident. Maybe the air lock?

Hunk raises his hand in question. "How so, man?"

"Well for starters my dear Hunk," Lance gently pats Hunk on the head. "He has two fanny packs. I mean one is bad enough, but two!? And on either hip, what do you keep in them?"

"My knifes."

"Knifes? As in more than one? How many knifes do you need?"

"Enough." Keith deadpans. His's eyes shoot daggers- or in this case knifes- at Lance. "Besides I'm not the only one with two fanny packs, both Shiro and Hunk them."

"What?" Lance says dumbfounded.

"Yeah man," Hunk gleams. "These are my snack packs." He pulls out something out of one of his fanny packs that looks like a bunch of wires. "Wait no, that was my tech pouch. But why does it have pudding on it."

"And I keep band aids in mine" Shiro holds a package of bandages as well as a bag of food. "And trail mix."

Lance nods, "I'm not about to fight space dad. And Hunk your perfect. So you both get away with it"

"Wait so, it's okay for them to have them, but I can't?" Keith pipes in.

"Uhhh, yes."

"How is that fair?!"

"All fair in love and fashion." Lance winks again.

"The hell, does that mean?!" Keith yells.

"Yeah Lance. _Love_ and fashion. What does that mean?" Pidge says wriggling their eyebrows

"Pidge, shut up." Lance spits at them. "And you keep those eyebrows under control!"

"Are we done here?" Keith says getting up from the couch.

"Not even close, sit back down."

Keith groans and crosses his arms as he plops back down on the couch.

"Anyways, let's talk about those gloves. Fingerless gloves stopped being cool after middle school, my dude."

"I have fingerless gloves, well glove." Shiro raised his Garla hand. "And doesn't Hunk wear fingerless gloves as well?"

"Yep, they keep my hands warm but still let allow me to use touch screens."

"To be honest I wear it because I think it looks cool." Shiro rubs his neck out of embarrassment.

"Same." Keith throws in.

Lance looks quizzical at the group. He points at Shiro, "Shiro can pull it off." Then to Keith, "but Keith can't."

"Why the hell not?"

"Shiro has that Winter Soldier style, he's naturally cool. The one arm, the hair job, and his natural charisma make him the perfect leader. Keith is trying too hard."

"Oh, thank you Lance." Shiro says with a bashful smile.

Lance snaps finger guns at Shiro, "No prob, Dad."

All the while, Keith is having none of it. "I'm trying hard, really? Says the guy who flirts with every feminine figure he sees."

"Burn!" Allura yells out of the blue, she looks over to Pidge, "Did I do it right, Pidge?"

Pidge gives Allura a small golf clap. "Beautifully done, I have taught you well."

"Can we please stop roasting me and get back to the real prime roast here. Like Keith's silly half jacket."

"I happen to like my crop jacket! Hunk wears one too!" Keith points to Hunk who was unaware of what was happening until now.

"What's happening?"

"Man Lance, what did Hunk ever do to you to deserve such ridicule?" Pidge tisks at him.

Lance runs over to Hunk and holds his head to his chest. "I would never! Hunk is a beautiful, perfect cinnamon roll who deserves better!"

Hunk tears up, "Aw bro!"

"I got you bro!" He kisses the top of Hunks head. "Besides it's more of a vest and not like a silly jacket!"

"Your jacket is silly!" Keith voiced his anger.

"Le Gasp!" Lance drops Hunk's head. "My jacket has an actual purpose, thank you very much!" Lance says wrapping his lanky arms around his jacket covered body. "It keeps me warm!"

"Yeah? Well for someone who hates being called a cargo pilot, you sure do love your cargo jacket!"

"Fight, fight, fight" Pidge and Hunk chant in unison banging their fists.

"Hunk. Pidge. Stop encourage them." Shiro says in his dad voice.

Pidge and Hunk exchange a look. "Make out, make out, make out"

"Shut it you two!" Lance yells pink in the face. He clears his throat after collecting himself. "Last and certainly least, Keith's mullet."

Keith rolls his eyes, "Oh, boy here we go."

Lance ignores him. "The only man who can pull off a Mullet, was Uncle Jessie on Full House. Everyone else is just a failed attempt to be cool."

"He's got you there Keith, the Mullet is out dated." Pidge says looking up to Keith.

"Pidge whose side are you on?!"

"I don't pick sides, I just love drama."

"Thank you," Lance directs to Pidge. "Seriously dude do you cut your own hair?" Lance continues.

"Yes" Keith said bluntly with a twinge of annoyance in his voice.

"Wait, what? Really?"

"Yeah, it's just easier to deal with."

"But why I Mullet?" Hunk asks.

"I don't know. I can cut it off, if that's what it takes to shut Lance up-"

"No don't!" Lance cries out interrupting Keith.

Keith double takes."What?"

"Why not?" Allura asks wondering why she's still here.

Pidge grins sinisterly, "Yeeeah Lance, do you actually like Keith's hair?"

"Deez Nutz!" Coran yells then looks to Pidge for approval. "Did I do it right, Pidge?"

"We'll work on it, great energy though."

"Ppft." Lance scoffs "I don't like it, it's just that if he cut it off then I have nothing to make fun of anymore."

"Nice save, dude." Hunk says.

Keith on the other hand, as had enough, he pushes himself off the couch and makes an angry bee line to Lance. "Seriously, what's your problem with me?"

"Keith calm down." Shiro intervenes but to no avail.

"No, I won't," he directs his anger back to Lance pocking in in the chest. "It's not the packs, the gloves, the cropped jacket or my hair. So what is it really? Why do you hate me so much!"

"I don't hate you!"

There was a long pregnant silence as the tension rose in the room. No one said anything in fear of adding to what is already an extremely awkward moment. Everyone but Pidge of course.

"Fuck," Pidge finally spoke up.

"Pidge! Language." Shiro ever the dad.

"I'm just saying what they should do." Pidge retorted back defending themselves.

"That's it," Keith says throwing his hands up in, "I'm leaving." He bumps shoulders with Lance as he makes his grand exist.

Shiro looked to Lance. "Apologize now."

"What, why? He's the one who got his mullet in a twist! It's not my fault-"

"Now Lance." Shiro wasn't joking around.

"Alright. I'm going, I'm going." Lance exist the common room and after walking the corridors of the Castle he finds Keith in- where else? - the training room.

"Freaking predictable," Lance whispers under his breath.

Keith is already battling a robotic enemy, bayard in hand. Lance takes notice to the other boy's movement, he was erratic. Usually Keith was more calculated and would have a determined look on his face. But his fighting and face was angry and unstable. He was the Red Paladin alright.

The gladiator dodges one of Keith's attacks and knocks his blade out of his hand. Keith can hold his own without his bayard, but not for long. The gladiator knocks Keith to the ground with a thud. Keith isn't stopping though, he throws punches and kicks as the robot looms over him. Lance couldn't keep watching from the sidelines anymore.

"End simulation!" Lance yells from the entrance.

The gladiator immediately freezes in place and is sucked back into the floor. Keith looks around surprised only for his anger to rise once he sees Lance running towards him.

"Oh, it's you." Keith said emotionless.

"Yeah it's me! You trying to get yourself killed?" Lance holds out a hand to Keith still on the floor.

Keith ignores the gesture and raises by himself up. "Since when did you care about my wellbeing?" He turns his back on the other boy to pick up his discarded bayard.

"Chill, I came to apologize-"

"You mean Shiro told you to apologize."

Lance stood slacked jawed, "He did, but I came here on my own accord."

Keith scoffed, "Sure." He disarmed his bayard and attached it to his belt.

"Can you stop being a dick for a second, and let me-"

"I'm the dick?" Keith's voice rose, "That's rich coming from the guy who critiqued my clothes in front of every one!"

"Hey don't blame me for you fashion sense." Lance defended himself.

Keith pushed his bangs back out of stress, "God you never change!" Keith yelled as he angrily marched around the field. "You were just like this back at the Garrison-"

"Woah, woah wait." Lance flares his arms around to stop Keith. "You said you didn't remember me."

Keith stuttered in disbelief, "I didn't-don't. I just meant-"

"You knew me back at school!" Lance's confidence was growing with his cocky smile plaster on his face. "You lied!"

"Of course I knew you!" Keith gives up his ruse. "Everyone knew you! Lance McClain, the cargo pilot with a big ego!"

"So why did you pretend you didn't know me when I rescued Shiro-"

"When we _all_ rescued Shiro," Keith corrected.

"Yeah, yeah whatever, answer the question."

There was a small pause as Keith thought on his next words. "I didn't want to give you the satisfaction." He replied bitterly.

"You're an asshole, you know that?" Lance spat back, "and I'm not the one everyone knew back at the Garrison."

"What the hell do you mean?"

"Oh please. Keith Kogane, star pupil, top of his class, best pilot the Garrison has to offer. Right after Shiro of course-"

Keith snapped "Don't you compare me to Shiro, you don't know what's like to live in his shadow!"

"Yeah well, I know what it's like being in yours!"

Keith was silent with shock. There was a look of concern in his face. "What? Lance, I-"

"Lance and Keith, neck and neck. I was always second best compared to you!" Lance sniffed and looked as though he would start crying. "The only reason why I'm a real pilot is cause you dropped out to live in some shack in the desert!"

It was silent between them again. Keith looked at his feet, he held his head in his shaking hands. "I thought we were getting better," he whispers so soft that Lance barely catches it. "After everything that's happened to us, and nothing's changed." Keith charges out of the training room without a second glance at Lance.

"Do you always run away from your problems?!" Lance yells after him, but Keith is too far gone to hear him. Lance runs after him and yells louder, "Do you hear me Kogane?!"

Lance sighs, he fucked up he knew it. How was he going to tell Shiro?

"Lance?"

Speak of the devil. Shiro jogged up to meet Lance with a look of concern.

"Look, Shiro I tried apologizing, but mullet-head was having none of it."

Shiro opened his mouth to speak, but Lance stopped him before he could utter any words of wisdom.

"I'm sorry, I'm too tried to try again."

Shiro places his human hand on Lance's shoulder. "It's okay Lance," he reassures him. "Keith is-" he stops himself. "Keith is complicated."

Lance scoffs at his words of wisdom. The way he was feeling was just that, complicated. "Yeah, your telling me." He tells Shiro

"But you still have to apologize to him." Shiro continued pointing a stern finger at Lance.

Lance sighed, "Yeah, yeah." He made his way to his room leaving Shiro behind, muttering on the way.

"Stupid Mullet, thinks he's so great at everything." Lance says under his breath as he walks down the hall.

He suddenly stops before a door that isn't his. Keith's door. It was closed and locked obviously. There was a sharp pinch in the middle of his chest as he begins to reach out to knock on the door. Keith's words echoing in his mind.

 _I thought we were getting better._

 _After everything that's happened to us, and nothing's changed._

Lance's hand freezes just millimeters before making contact with the metal door. His face had grown exponentially warmer. His hand starts to shake followed by the rest of his body. He question's Keith's words. What had he meant by them?

Lance snaps out of thought and puts his hand back down to his side still in a fist. He then scoffs at himself. "This is stupid." He says to no one in particular. Lance gives up and continues on to his own room.

Before he enters he looks back to Keith's door like he's waiting for Keith to come out. But Lance knows that Keith is to stubborn to come out on his own. "He's hopeless."

Lance thinks back to how he humiliated Keith in front of the rest of the team. He doesn't know why he did it, he and Keith were getting along better. So why did Lance mess it all up?

Lance sighed looking down to his floor. "I'm hopeless."

And with that the mechanical door closed behind him, leaving both boys isolated from the rest of the ship and each other.

 **Oh hello angst didn't expect you to show up, and yet here you are. Think I might write a second chapter, maybe, maybe not. Hope you all liked it.**


	2. Getting to Know You

Ch 2 Project Runway: Space Edition

It's been a few days since Keith and Lance's fight, and it hasn't gotten better between the two of them. Lance still hasn't apologies and Keith has been actively avoiding him. Dinners have become awkward, no one says anything regarding the red and blue paladins, they all eat in silence.

Keith is hiding out in the observatory looking for planets sending out destress beacons, but coming up empty. There still haven't been any Garla attacks, which is a blessing in more ways than one. With Keith and Lance at odds with each other it would be impossible for the team to form Voltron.

Shiro had come talked to him the other day after the fight in the training room with Lance. He said that he talked to Lance to defuse some tension. Shiro also said that it was best if both boys made up. Keith will be damned if he was to apologize firsts, and why should he apologize? He didn't even do anything, this is all Lance's fault.

Stupid, annoying Lance. With his big mouth and his bigger ego. The way he turns everything into a joke for his own amusement. The way his laugh resonates through the castle. How he can be so easy going with others, even with someone he just met. How friendly he is with the other everyone on the ship. Everyone but a certain red paladin. Keith thought they were close to that friendliness, he still hopes they can reach it. Maybe then Keith could hear Lance laugh _with_ him instead of _at_ him. But Keith had come to realizes he wasn't just jealous of how Lance was friendly with everyone except for him, but how Lance could easily make friends. Keith never had that-

"Shit." Keith caught his train of thought. Why was he thinking like this, what's the point? Lance was obsessed with this so-called 'rivalry' they had. He was so dead set on always one upping him that he didn't notice anything around him. Like Keith's feelings… Complicated they may be.

"He's hopeless." Keith said under his breath, he thought back to Lance's smile, his laugh, his eyes, his-

"God dammit." He bangs his first down on the control panel causing the holographic image to glitch. Keith needed to release some of this stress, but unfortunately when Shiro came to have a heart-to-heart he also banned Keith from the training room. Something about unhealthy habits or something or other.

"I'm hopeless."

At least the observatory was peaceful, and he found a way to be helpful if he couldn't train. The way the plants and constellations moved through the room was calming. Keith could breathe easy as the images pass over head, everything was quiet.

That is until Lance barged in.

"What?!" Lance yelped. Keith quickly turned his head to see Lance stand in the door way, surprisingly without his signature cargo jacket.

"Oh no, no no no." he marches over to Keith who was very much confused. "This is my chill zone where I come to think! Get your own!"

"Uh what?" was the only thing Keith let out.

"You know, a place that you can come to think about life and other deep shit."

"Sure?"

"Well this room is mine!" Lance shoos him off. "Don't you have the training room or something?"

Keith looked off to the side, "Shiro banned me." There was a twinge of shame in his tone.

Lance scoffs "Figures…"

The room is awkwardly silent, neither boy moves but waits for the other to do so. It's a regular Mexican stand off or in Lance's case, a Cuban standoff.

Keith takes a deep breath then speaks up, "I'll leave." He says defeated. He goes to exist without looking back at Lance. Maybe he could do some pushes ups in his room, that way he could at least get in a work out

"No wait!" Lance stops him.

Keith, almost towards the door, turns around. "I thought you wanted me to leave?"

"I do!" Lance tries to keep his confidence as he speaks. "I-I just wanted to say- ask- that- the other day- uh…" Lance stutters out some words that sort of sound like a sentence.

Keith rolls his eyes, he can't handle the waiting "Are you going to apologize or what?"

Something in Lance's face shifts "Hell no! You apologize first!"

"What the hell did I do?!" Keith calls back from across the room. "You apologize first!"

"No! You apologize first, then I'll think about it."

Keith scoffs "Yeah, I'm sorry." he crosses his arms "Sorry your ego gets in the way of everything!"

Lance gasps as his mouth falls open. "Well, I'm sorry _your pride_ gets in the way of everything!"

"My pride?" Keith marches back over to Lance, "You're the one throwing himself around like some sort of space Casanova!"

"Hey! I can't help it if the ladies find me irresistible." Lance showed off his signature smirk.

Keith groans in annoyance, "More like you can't resist the 'ladies'. And that's what got you tried to a tree."

"We all promised to not talk about that!" Lance shrieked. Keith raised an eyebrow as Lance recomposed himself. "Besides, you're the one the girls like." Lance said bitterly.

Keith paused to prosses Lance's words, but his brain nearly shut down at the statement. Girls liked Keith? _Girls_ liked _Keith?_ When did this happen? In what alternate universe did this take place in?

"What the hell?" Keith gave Lance a quizzical look.

"Oh please," Lance invaded Keith's personal bubble to poke him in the chest. "Like you didn't notice the hordes of girls that obsessed over you back at The Garrison. They basically started a fanclub!"

Again, Keith was coming up empty, he looked around the observatory to see if Lance might be talking to someone else. But it was just the two of them, together, alone, standing meer inches apart.

Keith gulped, his mouth went dry. "Uh-Lance, I'm gay."

Lance narrowed his eyes as Keith waited for him to respond.

"So what? I'm bi. Pidge's ace. Hunk is poly." Lance waved his arm around to illustrate his point. "I don't know about Shiro, Allura and Coran, but this is one gay ship. And just because your gay doesn't mean you can be _that_ oblivious."

Keith tried to prosses all this new information flooding his brain. "Woah wait a minute, your bi?"

"Yeah I am," Lance said coldly. "Are you one of those gays that don't accept Bisexuality?" He sounded angry.

Keith blinked rapidly, "What no, of course not!" he defended himself "And Shiro is bi by the way."

Lance snorts "Hehe, bi the way." Lance stopped and then it hit him. "Wait Shiro's bi?!" His yelling jarred Keith. "Oh, thank god, cause he's hot." Keith cringed. "Wow this really is a gay ship."

"Why would girls at school like me?" Keith said ignoring Lance's revelation. "I didn't do anything."

"Maybe they just like brute angsty emo types with bad taste."

Keith sighed putting a hand to his head. "Not this again."

"Look I mean, your fashion sucks and all, but you defiantly have that 'Bad boy/Lone Wolf' thing that girls love."

"Lone wolf? I was only alone because no one wanted to be around me…" Keith trailed off, thinking back to how lonely his Garrison days were.

"See? Angst, you're _chock-full of it_ _._ Girls eat that shit up."

"What about boys?"

Lance went red in the face, "Wha-what about them?"

"Well you said 'girls eat that shit up', but do boys?" Keith cocked his head.

Lance scoffed to cover up his embarrassment, "I don't know, you're the gay one."

"And you're the bi one! You should have some idea."

"Look guys aren't really my field of expertise-"

"Come to think of it," Keith interrupts him. "I don't think I've ever seen you hit on a guy-"

"It's space Keith!" Lance yells out in his defense. "Some aliens don't have a concept of the gender- binary, just ask Pidge!"

"True, but you've only been flirting with the feminine looking aliens."

Lance starts to laugh nervously, "Jeeze man, can't a bi guy have a preference," he laugh gets louder. "I mean it's not a perfect 50/50 split, my dude!"

Keith stared him down. "If you think Shiro's so hot why haven't you been flirting with him?"

"Because it's intimidating!" Lance yells out.

"You think Shiro's intimidating?"

"No- I mean yes, have you seen the guy? The man looks like a freaking Demi-God!" Keith cringes again. "But it's not just him, like all dudes are intimidating!" Lance continued pacing around. "Fliting with girls is easy, just tell them their pretty and they giggle or something."

"Yeah that's working great for you with Allura, huh."

"Hey! I'm weakening her defensives." He points a defensive finger at Keith.

Keith rolls his eyes, "Guys want to be called pretty too, well maybe not pretty per say. But compliments in general."

"Really?" Lance asked wide eyed. "But I don't know, with dudes I feel like they could break me in half! And then I would thank them!"

"What are you talking about? You were complimenting Hunk and Shiro just the other day."

"What, when?"

"You know." Keith sighs. "When you were 'roasting' my clothes."

"Oh that? That was just some bro-talk with the guys."

"Really, bro-talk? You sound straight." Keith imitates a stereotypical dude-bro. "No-homo"

Lance gasps "How dare you accuse me of being a-a-a" Lance fakes gags "Heterosexual!" He pretends to vomit.

Keith laughs, "But no you do that, and the boys will come running."

"Ooooh." Lance wiggles his eyebrows. "You speak from experience?" He elbows Keith in the side. "Huh, Keith."

Keith blushes and becomes a stuttering mess. "N-no- I mean yes- Once, maybe-"

"Dish, dish, dish."

"Eh well, remember when you went off with Nyma?"

"What did I say before about never speaking about it again?"

"While that was happening, I was kinda talking to Rolo." Keith said bashfully rubbing the back of his neck."

"Ohohoh" Lance wrapped an arm around the other boy's shoulders Keith to blush harder. "Keith you sly dog, you."

"Heh well, he was a jerk."

"True, a cute jerk tho"

"Hhmm" Keith intently thought of someone else who fit that discretion.

"Dude you have to give me some pointers." Lance's face lit up.

"I don't know, I'm not that great." He said hesitantly.

"Pppfft please I bet you flirt with Shiro all the time."

Keith felt a huge wave of disgusted run through his whole body. "Uh, actually-"

"I mean if you don't want me to, then I won't. Don't want to tread on your turf."

Keith's stomach turned, "Well, no because-"

"Because if not, I'm going to try to get him _and_ Allura." Lance continued, "That right there is the dream three-way-"

"Oh my god, can you stop talking about my brother like that!" Keith yelled pushing Lance's arm off him.

"Woah, wait brother?!" lance flabbergasted. "You and Shiro are brothers?"

"Well, not technically-not really- you know blood- or-or even legally." Keith stumbled over his words. "It's a complicated story."

"You don't have to tell me." Lance shrugged. "We've already learned so much about each other."

"Yeah, maybe another time."

"Sure, save it for the second date-" Lance cut himself off and blushed, "That was a joke."

Keith let out a short laugh. "I know." He glanced at Keith and flashed a grin, "I'm out of your league."

"The hell you are!" offended "If any thing I'm out of _your_ league, Mullet Head!"

"Mullet Head, really?" smirked "You needed to get some better insults."

"I'll get better insults when you get some better senses of style!"

"If I got a 'better senses of style' then what's the point of making fun of me?"

Lance opened his mouth to speak but closed it when he couldn't think of anything to say.

"Besides it's like I said I could cut it off, if it bothers you that much-"

"No!"

Pause, Keith squints his eyes at Lance, "Why."

"Cause-uh, if you cut it yourself, then it will look stupid."

Keith rolls his eyes, "Sure."

There was another pause in conversation. What is to be said now? This whole exchange had been going relatively well for two guys that had a fight then awkwardly avoided each other. They were learning so much about each other, and yet there was more. They were talking together and having fun, a real bonding moment. Keith got to laugh _with_ Lance like wished, and even laugh _at_ Lance. And yet something felt off, like Keith was forgetting something.

Oh yeah.

"I'm still not apologizing." Keith said out of the blue.

"Well neither am!"

Yep. There it is.

"Then what did you want to say to me when you first came in?"

"Oh that" Lance rubbed his neck. "Uhh-The other day when we fought you said, that we were getting better. What did you mean by that?"

Keith froze. "I don't really know how- how to explain it. Just after everything that's happened since we became paladins; being with the others, all the bonding moments, when I cradled you-"

" _Allegedly_ cradled me." Lance corrected.

"Yeah that." Keith let it pass "After all that, we were better than when we were at The Garrison." He sighed. "I thought we were- I don't know- friends or at least friendlier."

Lance puts his hand on Keith's shoulder. "Of course were friends."

"Friends that don't apologize to each other."

"Eh, you apologize first."

"That's what I thought." Keith turns to leave. "I'm gonna take a nap before dinner "

"Wait!" Lance stops him again. "Before you go- do you want to do this again some time?"

"Do what again?

"This." Lance wildly gestures around the room, "You aren't allowed in your chill zone, so you can share with me."

"Oh." Keith was taken aback by the kind offer.

"That is until you're ungrounded from the training room." Lance added on.

"Oh." Keith said again but a little more disappointed.

"We could even- uh talk more if you wanted." Lance said avoiding eye contact.

"So, like a second date?"

"No, that's gay!"

"Lance, I'm gay." Keith deadpans. "And you're Bi."

"Yeah. Right, right." Lance shrugs "I meant more like bonding."

Keith raises an eyebrow. "Like when I cradled you in my arms?"

"No like something real!" Lance says "Just two gays bonding, no-homo."

"Sure, see you around" Keith leaves.

As Keith went to leave for real this time, he glanced over his shoulder to see Lance's smile. Keith could feel the heat rise in his cheeks and a sharp pinch in the middle of his chest. Maybe there were still getting better, Keith hoped so.

He still wasn't going to apologize first though.

 **That wasn't such a long wait, now was it? Lol.**


	3. Brooding and Angst

Project Runway: Space Edition Ch 3

Two days later after Lance and Keith sort of made up, Keith took up Lance's offer to share the observatory.

Luckily there was still no attacks from the Garla Empire and Team Voltron was starting to think they were pushing their luck. But they were going take advantage of their time off, however long it will last.

At first they were doing their job, combing the universe for destress signals, but that was two hours ago and certainly before the push up contest. Which Keith clearly won despite the protest form Lance.

Both boys discarded their jackets on the ground before the contest, and Keith had put his hair up in a ponytail to get it out of his face. Which Lance might have gotten distracted by during the contest, it was hard to focus on pushups when the boy next to you had the hardest look of determination on his face that wasn't blocked by his obscure haircut. But Lance wasn't going to admit that.

After the workout, Lance and Keith sat on sill to the bay window, looking out at the stars and planets passing by. They talked about various nonsensical things, that both found entertaining. Well one boy more than the other.

Lance's laugh resonates throughout the large room. "I still can't believe you didn't know I was bi, I make jokes all the time!"

Keith rested his hand on his own cheek as he gazed at Lance. "Guess I didn't get them," Keith retorts. "Or your jokes aren't funny."

"That or, counterpoint," he puts his hands together and points them at Keith. "Your oblivious."

Keith scoffs, "Keep yelling yourself that, Cargo Pilot." He looks back out into the void of space.

"I'm hilarious and you know it!" Lance augured back.

Keith smirked and rolled his eyes. Their talks always ended up this way, auguring and making fun of each other. It was a harmless routine that happened when they were around their teammates, Lance would try to one up him and Keith would play along to piss Lance off. But now that they were alone something was different. Like before they were only scratching the surface of conversation. There was now something much deeper to the teasing and Keith couldn't quite put his finger on it…

"Yo, Lance to Keith!" Lance said pushing Keith's shoulder.

"What?" Keith was interrupted mid-thought.

Lance chuckled, "You're starting off into space again." He points out the window. "Literally."

"Sorry, I was thinking about something…"

"Were you brooding again?" Lance teased, "Or were thinking about some deep and angsty?"

"No." Keith lied slightly. "I was actually thinking about how weird it is that we put 'space' in front of everything." He came up with.

Lance looked confused, "What do you mean?"

"Well like 'space store' or 'space food', when to aliens it's just a regular store or food."

"Holy shit dude," Lance's confused face shaped in to astonishment, "your right! Do you think we freak out aliens when we say that?"

"I think there more freaked out to see humans."

"I'm pretty freaked out to see aliens,

"I'm just happy I was right and that they exist."

Lance muttered something under his breath, something along the lines of 'Conspiracy theorist' and 'Big foot.'

Keith ignored him. "Do you think that if Coran and Allura came to Earth they'd call stores and food 'Earth stores' and 'Earth food'?"

The excitement in Lance's face was drained at the mention of their home planet, "You think we'll ever make it back? Something in his tone changed to something a little sadder. "To Earth, I mean."

Keith was speechless, he never really thought about going back to Earth. He didn't even think about how long this war would last, "I don't know…" or if he would even live through it. "It hasn't really crossed my mind."

"Pfft," Lance said his tone returning back to its cocky nature, "You're probably right." He says like he's hiding something. But what?

Keith reflects no Lance's reaction, "Lance I wanted to ask you…" He looks directly into Lance's blue eyes. "Why is observatory your 'chill zone'?"

Lance went silent, he opened his mouth to speak but closed it. He looked away from Keith and looked out into space in deep thought.

"Here." He grabbed Keith's gloved hand as they both tried to ignore the growing warming sensation in their cheeks. "It's better if I showed you." He pulled Keith to the control board and hit a few buttons to activate the holo space. Keith looked around the room as Lance worked. "This," he said continued to typing with one hand, "is why." Lance zoomed in on a holo planet that looked familiar…

"Is that…" Keith squinted his eyes, "Earth?"

Lance nodded his head. "Yeah, Coran showed me this a while ago, before the explosion…" The holo Earth was slowly spinning above their heads. "I was feeling kinda homesick at the time."

"Are you still?" Keith asked concerned.

Lance sighed but smiled back at him, "Of course, I miss my family- A lot, like crazy." He chuckled, "I love Hunk, but his space goo doesn't compare to home cooked dinner with the family." He sighed, "I even miss food at the Garrison."

Keith smiled in sincerity. "What else?"

"Well-uh the rain."

"Rain?"

"Yeah, real Earth rain. The way it feels when it comes down, the way it smells after a huge shower." Lance sighed at the very memory, "I-just- miss all of it…" he trailed off.

Keith gave Lance's hand a reassuring squeeze without realizing they were still holding hands. He quickly retracted his hand in horror of violating Lance's private moment. "I- I'm sorry." Keith stuttered, face turning pink. He moved back a few feet from the blue paladin.

"No-no, you're okay." Lance said rubbing the back of his neck, "It's fine, really."

The room was filled with an awkward aura, that both boys could feel but couldn't ignore.

Lance cleared his throat. "So-uh what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Do you miss Earth at all?"

Keith didn't say anything at first, he just looked up at the rotating planet above them. "To be honest," he let out a deep breath, "Not really."

"Why?" there was no signs of angry in Lance's voice, if anything he sounded concerned.

The other boy shakes his head, "There's nothing left for me there." Keith looked over to Lance, who was looking straight at Keith. Focusing deeply. Lance nodded his head signaling Keith to go on. So he did, "I didn't have any real family, and the one person I did have was said to have died in space."

"Shiro." Lance said without missing a beat.

"Yeah," Keith nodded in agreement, "I grew up in foster homes and was moved around a lot, because of... my behavior. So I was paired up with Shiro in this Big Brother program and that's how I got into the Garrison. Which kinda sucked because everyone at the Garrison was comparing me to Shiro."

"I remember you saying that." Lance inched closer to Keith.

Keith thought back to the last time he was in his 'chill zone' to blow of some steam. It was after the fight they had so many days ago, when they both confessed they were in someone else's shadow. How he was in Shiro's but also how Lance was in his shadow. "I said I knew you back at the Garrison, but I didn't know they were comparing you to me." He knew what it was like to be pinned against someone else as though you couldn't reach their level. "I'm sorry."

"Nah it's fine," Lance said nonchalantly, "if anything you inspired me to work harder."

"I inspired you, huh?" Keith said raising an eyebrow.

Lance went pink in the face, "I mean I saw you as a challenge! Someone to rival my greatness!"

"What greatness?"

"My greatness with both the ladies and the gentlemen," Lance winked and Keith once again rolled his eyes. "Not to mention my impeccable fashion taste."

Keith scoffed. It would always circle back to clothes, wouldn't it? "What are you talking about? Everyone wore the same uniform back at the Garrison."

"Yeah but I made it look good." Lance said so smoothly.

Keith ran a hand through his bangs, clearing them out off his face. "To be honest I was always kinda jealous of how many people knew and liked you backed at the Garrison."

"What are you talking about you had a fan club?" Lance said in disbelief.

"Yeah, but no one really talked to me, or tried to get to know me." He sighed "I felt like I didn't belong."

"At the Garrison?"

"Anywhere, with anyone." Keith whispered. "On Earth."

"Well I don't know about back on Earth but you definitely belong here." Lance placed a reassuring hand on Keith's shoulder.

"You mean in space?"

"Uh-yeah, but I meant more on the lines of here, with _us_." The smile Lance was giving him made Keith's heart flutter. He quickly retracted his hand, and used it to rub his neck. "Us, as in the paladins and Allura and Coran." Lance corrected himself blushing a field of pink.

"Thanks' Lance" Keith took advantage of their close proximity and wrapped his arms around Lance in a hug. "I needed to hear that," Keith pulled him in tighter and, "especially from you…" Keith said the last bit in such a soft whisper that Lance could only feel the breath against his skin.

Keith could feel Lance's heat was pounding in his chest from how compact their bodies were together. Keith had hugged him out of instinct, without even thinking. The out of character action shocked Lance, Keith didn't show affection, he barely respected it when others offered. But he Lance was, with the slightly shorter boy's head in the crook of his neck.

This was weird, good weird. So weirdly good that Lance hadn't noticed his own arms were still at his sides, awkwardly dandling like the long noodles that they are. He shyly snakes his arms around Keith's frame, one on his back and the other hesitantly hovering over Keith's neck. He had the strangest urge to comfort Keith, to caress his head and smooth out the very Mullet he said he hated. But Lance instead settled for resting his hand over Keith's ponytail, feeling the somewhat greasy texture on the pads of his fingers.

They hugged for a long time, longer than two rivals should. They both instantly pulled out of each other's embrace both mourning the loss of touch. They half-hazardly avoid eye contact as Lance cleared his throat looking into Space, or at least the holo version. He forgot to turn it off before things got… deep.

Lance type something on the counsel to deactivate the holo field as Keith readjusted his ponytail. It took all of Lance's will power to not glimpse at the other boy as he took out his hair tie. But Lance was too weak and snuck a peek at Keith pulling his stupid, gross mullet back in to a low ponytail. Keith brushed out his hair with his fingers covered by those pointless fingerless gloves.

Keith leaned up against the control pad as Lance worked to shut it off. Lance's hands worked fast on the counsel as he saw Keith place a hand down for balance.

The holo Earth disappears above their heads, but Lance is still looking down at the controls.

"You okay Lance?" Keith asks

Lance looks up startled, "Huh, yeah I was just thinking about something."

"Were you brooding?" Keith said sarcastically. "Thinking about some deep and angsty?"

Lance was still in too deep of thought to get mad at Keith's comment. He chewed on his lower lip as he not so subtlety scooched closer to Keith.

"Keith?" Lance squeaked out, his hand moved atop Keith's gloved hand.

"Yeah, Lance?" Both boys subconsciously leaned in closer to the other, Lance played anxiously with the leather fabric of Keith's gloves.

"Can I- can I-" Lance was so nervous that his hand was trembling on top of Keith's.

"Yeah?" Keith said leaning in closer to Lance, eyes slowly closing if out of instinct.

Lance swallowed as he gathered the courage to speak. "Can I try on your gloves?" He blurted out.

Keith's eyes opened wide in an instant, he pulling his hand back from under Lance's. "What the hell?" He straightens his posture, "I thought you hated them?"

Lance erratically moves his arms around defending himself, "I-I do- I think their stupid!" he yells. "I just want to try them on for… science reasons."

Keith sighs "Okay whatever," he gives in "But you have to let me try on your jacket."

"What, why?"

Keith gives him a smirk and shrugs his shoulders. "Science reasons," retorts back sarcasticly

"Fine." Lance picks up his discarded jacket and Keith takes off his gloves.

They hand each other their respective clothes. Lance wiggles his long fingers to adjusting to the tight leather fabric, while Keith just holds the jacket in his arms.

Lance seems to be having fun as he strikes a pose after doing a bunch of weird hand motions that Keith doesn't recognizes as ASL.

"Is that supposed to be a reference to something?"

Lance jaw drops, "Naruto!"

Keith rolls his eyes, "Sure thing weeb." He examined Lance's jacket in his arms, "When was the last time you washed this?"

Lance draws a blank and shrugs then goes back to doing ridiculous kung-fu moves with the gloves on.

Keith put his noise over the jacket and wafted it to see if it smelled safe. 'Safe' isn't the best way to describe it, neither would 'clean'. But non-the less it smelled like Lance, like cucumber and the many moisturizes he used.

Lance was to distracted with being a huge dork to notice Keith sniffing his jacket.

Keith decides the jacket is safe to wear, he slips it on over his broad shoulders, the arms are longer than he expect. The sleeves come past his hands and so does the bottom of the jacket which came slightly above his midthigh. It felt different from his own jacket which cut halfway at his chest. He swayed his upper body to the feel of extra fabric, without realizing he had an audience.

Lance had stopped acting like a dweeb to watch Keith try on his jacket. He had a significate pink undertone on his tan cheeks and his mouth was slightly agape.

Keith had taken notice to the other paladin in the room, "What is it?"

Lance cleared his throat, "Nothing." He shook himself and regained his cocky attitude. "So, how does it feel to wear _real_ fashion?"

Keith shrugged causing the fabric to bunch up at his shoulders, "Loose, I guess." He waved the excess sleeves around to prove his point.

"Excuse you," Lance grasped his chest in a offended manner that still accentuated the gloves he was wearing, "big jackets are comfy as hell!"

Keith did have to agree with him on that, he did feel more comfortable than he did with his jacket. But he wasn't out right and say it to Lance though. He looked other at the Blue paladin and cocked his head, "How are those _'stupid'_ gloves?"

"They're pretty rad." Lance pouted.

"What I say?"

"Yeah, yeah." He rolled his eyes. "Shiro still makes it look cooler."

Keith crossed his arms and smiled in content, it was nice to be the smug one for a change. "Sure." He looks around the room, "Now where did I put my jacket?" Keith had found his abandoned jacket on the floor near the bay window seating.

Lance's eyes widened as though an idea had just come to his head. "Wait," he jogged over to Keith and grabbed his hand again. "We _have_ to try something." His eyes lit up.

"Try what?"

Lance started to tug Keith out of the observatory, "Come on, you'll see!" He beamed.

Keith rolled his eyes at Lance's behavior, but decided to play along with his nonsense anyways. He was having fun hanging out with Lance, so much that he neglected to mention that Shiro had ungrounded him from the training room a day ago. It somehow slipped Keith's mind. Oh, well. Lance didn't have to know that either.

 **Hope you all are liking it so far; the next chapter is going to take longer to update. I got to study for finals, not fun**


	4. The Old Switcheroo

Lance kept dragging Keith threw the corridors of the Castle still holding his hand while wearing Keith's gloves. Keith was still wearing Lance's jacket which flapped behind him as they moved. He clutched his own jacket in his opened hand, bringing it along as Lance had instructed.

They stop in front of Lance's room; the door opens to them. He takes Keith into his room and the electric door shut behind them automatically after they enter.

Lance turns to face Keith with a doofy grin. "Dude, stay with me on this," he says tightening the grip on Keith's hand. "Take your pants off."

Keith rips his hand away from Lance's hold "Lance, what the fuck?!" he yells, his face turning a dark shade of red.

"Haha, I just wanted to see your reaction!" Lance points joking at Keith as he wipes away a tear. "But seriously, let's trade clothes."

"Why?"

"Well I got the idea in the observatory when I was trying out your dumb gloves." Lance says wiggling his fingers in Keith's face.

"I thought you didn't think they were dumb anymore."

"Dumb on you, great on me." Keith rolls his eyes. "Which got me thinking, if I can turn your hand ware into something descent." Lance exaggerates his hand movements as if to prove a point. "Then what's stopping me from doing it to the rest of your clothes?"

Keith gives Lance a well-earned stink eye, "Me."

"Oh come on old buddy old pal. It will be hilarious!"

"I thought you said you hated my clothes."

"I did, and that's what makes it so hilarious!"

Keith sighed. "Sure, whatever." Keith stripped off Lance's jacket and flung it across the room. The then began to take off his shirt.

"Woah woah, hold on eager beaver!" Lance waves his arms around to stop Keith. "No need for a strip teases!"

"You literally just told me to take my pants off." Keith replies bluntly.

"I was joking!" Lance defends himself. "Half joking," he said a little quieter.

Keith eye roll is so powerful that his head follows suite. "What's your plan here?"

Lance shrugs, "I don't know." He stretches his nose trying to cover his blushing cheeks, "We both stand in opposite corners with are backs to each other."

"K?" Keith said unsure but still following Lance's plan. He paces to the nearest corner and faces it. "No homo, I guess."

"Exactly," Lance agreed mirroring Keith's action. "Nothing weird about it."

Keith scoffed, "It's a little weird, dude." He pulled his black T-Shirt over his head and throws it to Lance.

Who does a terrible job at catching it. "What!" Lance said over his should but not seeing Keith. "Nothing weird or gay about trying on another bro's clothes!" Lance throws his own shirt over his shoulder.

He expertly catches Lance's long sleeve shirt. "That's not the part of this that's gay." Keith says under his breath.

Both boys kick off their shoes in as the awkward silence grew. Things were going great between them back in the observatory. They were getting along, sharing secrets and bonding. And Lance had to go and make things uncomfortable by wanting to play weird dress up. Why did he even want to wear Keith's clothes after had thoroughly 'Roasted' them the other day.

Keith decided not to think about it in depth and put his focus on changing his clothes. He was now wearing Lance's shirt which, just like the jacket, was to long for his body. The sleeves came down to his midhand, Keith moved his hands in a circular motion to test out the extra fabric.

In the silence, Lance thinks back to the conversations they had back in the observatory a few minutes ago. How deep they had gotten, or to be more specific how deep he had gotten. They mostly talked about Lance's feelings on Earth and how the observatory was his safe space. But Lance had been curious about Keith…

"Hey." Lance snaps Keith out of his fabric trance. His voice is weary like how it was back in the observatory. "I didn't get the chance to ask you why is the training deck your 'Chill zone?'"

"Why do you ask?"

"Only seemed fair, since you asked me first." Lance peered over his shoulder to see Keith freeze and his body tense up.

"I don't know," Keith didn't have a straight answer. "To work out I guess." He said resuming the trade off as he stepping out of his black pants. Lance's head snapped back to face the wall in front of him. Keith kicking his pants over to Lance.

"Oh come on," Lance whined. "I got all deep with my reasoning." He picked up the pair of pants and examined them.

Keith barely gave his exercise routine a second thought, there was probably nothing deep to it. "It gave me something to do back in the shack. Didn't have a real reason to train once I left the Garrison, it was kinda a distraction." He went on as he pulled Lance's pants up his legs. "Now it helps against the Garla."

"Is that all?"

When did Lance turn into a therapist? When did Lance care about his wellbeing? But Keith thought back to when they had their fight and he ran to the Training deck like it was a safe haven. And how Lance followed after him and turned his haven upside down.

"I guess it also helps to relieve whatever tension I have."

"What tension?"

 _You_. Keith wanted to say but held himself back. "All this I guess."

"All what?"

"Space, the Garla, being a paladin of Voltron. It builds a lot of tension."

A soft chuckle came from Lance, "Yeah I get it, I knew I would be fighting one day. That's what the Garrison was for." He pauses to take a breath. "But never thought I would be fighting Purple space cats."

Keith chuckled with him, "Yeah."

"Back at the Garrison training kinda felt meaningless, like it wasn't worth it."

"But now there's a whole Universe that needed to be protect."

Keith nods in agreement even though he knows Lance can't see. "I guess I also train so I can protect everyone"

"A universe full of people" Lance says, "That's a big order, dude."

"Not just them," Keith said in somber tone, "But everyone on this ship."

Lance stopped, he wanted to pass it off as Keith just being angsty again, but something in the back of Lance's mind told him otherwise. he wanted to turn around to see the other boy's face ,to look him in the eyes and make sure he was okay. But he didn't do any of that, he just kept looking at the wall in front of him and said-

"What do you mean?"

"I now have people that I care to protect." Keith answered back without hesitation.

Lance freezes again this time to search for some comforting words. But he chokes up, he hadn't realized that Keith had felt that way about everyone. Of course, Lance felt the same way, he had great respect for his teammates, they were all great friends. But it felt like it meant something more to Keith. Lance remembered how Keith had told him that, he really didn't have any family back on Earth, so maybe Keith saw Team Voltron as a substitute. They were like a family, a weird space family.

"Maybe…" Lance swallows his words. "Maybe we can train together, one-on-one" he clears his throat. "You know after Shiro lets you back in."

"Oh," Keith makes an odd humming noise, let he had said something but didn't want Lance to hear it. "Yeah that would be cool." He replied. "You know once I'm ungrounded…"

Lance smiled at the thought of the two of them training, alone together. More bonding moments with Keith. Lance had already shared his 'Chill zone' with Keith, so he was excited to be on the other side. It was also nice to hear that Keith had some genuine emotions besides angst, and that he cared for the safety of his friends. That Keith really did care about him.

 _No. Wait. No._ Lance stopped himself. Keith didn't like-like him like that. He just cares about the team; which Lance just happens to be on. Nothing more. They were friends and that was good, they've gotten friendlier which is great. But nothing more, nope. Lance just had a lot of complex feelings.

"I'm done." Keith interrupted Lance's mental freak out. "Can I turn around now?"

Lance adjust back to reality, "Uh yeah sure," he buttoned up Keith's pants and turned to face the red paladin with his signature cocky smile on his face. "Well how do I look?" He flipped the collar of Keith's jacket up.

Lance could feel Keith's eyes looking him up and down, but his face was blank and emotionless. "You look like a dork."

Lance tried not to get to offended. "Well I'm wearing your clothes so you basically called yourself a dork."

Keith scoffed at Lance. He did feel a little out of his element, all of Keith's clothes were just a bit too tight on him. The black t-shirt ridded up which complement the skinny jeans well, because they rode lower on his hips. When Lance raised his arms a strip of his tan stomach as exposed, but he could hardly lift his arms because of how the silly crop jacket cut him. He could barely bend his knees, let alone walk. Being in Keith's shoes were painful, quite literally as Keith also had smaller feet than Lance. Everything was tight or pulling at him, and Lance loved every moment of it.

Lance was grinning from ear to ear, he felt proud of himself. He had gotten Keith to open up to him and not only talk but wear his clothes.

"Here" Keith handed Lance his duel fanny pack belt. "The outfit isn't complete yet."

"Oh heck yeah," Lance said giddy, he looked inside on of the pouches. "Wow you were not kidding about those knives."

Keith rolled his eyes as he struggled to put on Lance's shoes.

Lance chuckled at him, "You need some help buddy?"

"No I'm fine, it's just you have big feet."

Lance gave cocky grin at the open opportunity, "Well you know what they say about big feet…"

Keith's head snapped up with full alert. "What about Bigfoot?"

"Uh no," Lance corrected, "Goddamn conspiracy theories."

"It's not a theory if he's real!" Keith yelled as he forced Lance's shoe on the other foot.

"Any who, how does it feel to be in some real clothes?"

"Loose I guess." Keith waved the arms of Lance's jacket. Lance's pants legs were slightly too long on Keith and the material bunched together at the bottom. "It looks like my stuff might be- uh too tight on you."

"That's just because I'm more muscular than you!"

"Really? Cause I feel like I might tear your shirt up if I flexed."

"Puh-lease." Lance said nonchalant as he trying not to picture the image. "Just admit I look better in your clothes."

"If you apologize first!"

"This again?" Lance groaned. "I didn't do anything, you apologize first!"

"Yeah you did," Keith raised his tone. "First you embarrassed me in front of the whole team, then you ask to wear my clothes. The very thing you were making fun of!" Keith held his head in one of his hands. "Why did you want to do this any way?"

"I already told you, for hilarious science." That may have been Lance's explanation at first, but he had gotten the idea to swap clothes completely once he saw Keith in his jacket. The way he looked was stunning, he had left Lance speechless and immobilized. Lance didn't want to admit that he just wanted an excuse to see Keith dressed in the rest of his clothes, that would be just as bad as apologizing first.

"Plus, I was curious." Which wasn't a complete lie, Lance really was curious on how he'd look in Keith's style. He had admired the 'Bad boy biker' look, but if he was being honest it fit Keith better. But he refused to say it out right.

"Sure, curious."

"Oh come on, don't tell me you weren't just the tiniest bit curious, Mr. 'Let me try on your jacket'"

"This coming from Mr. 'Let me try on your gloves.'"

Lance looked down at the very gloves which he spoke of. "It was for science!" Lance yelled with a dusting of pink on his cheeks.

"Again with the science?" Keith was losing his patience, "I bet you just wanted to get me naked then into your clothes!"

 _Shit,_ Lance thought. Was Keith on to him, was he being too obvious? That was his plan sure but not to that degree, and why did he have to make it sound more perverted than it was? "That's gay!"

"You're gay!"

Lance gasped "Excuse you, I am a proud bisexual. Don't you erasure me!"

"Jesus Christ!" Keith sounded defeated.

Why did they always get like this one of them mention apologizing, they were doing so well before. Lance blamed Keith's pride and needed to think of a way out and fast. "Well I think we need a second option on this!"

"What the hell do you mean?"

"I mean, let's go see the others and they'll tell us who looks better"

"No, we should not do that."

"What's the matter Mullet, afraid that my charm and likeability will win out?" Lance knew what to say to push Keith's buttons and he knew Keith could never resist a call to rivalry.

"Fine," Keith cracked. "But you know they're going to laugh at us right?"

"Don't care." Lance grabs Keith's hand once more and drags him out of his room. "Come on, I've got a beauty pageant to win."

As they rushed for the common room Lance looked over his shoulder to see Keith cracking a smile. Lance mouth went slightly agape again. Whatever was going on between them was obviously complicated and Lance didn't feel like he was ready to explore it further. But he had decided that he wanted to see Keith smile more. And that's what friends do, make each other smile. They were becoming such better friends the past few days, Lance hoped they wouldn't wreak it. That _he_ wouldn't wreak it. For the sake of Voltron.

 **Wow, what a mess! Sorry it took so long, but good news I passed all my classes! I love hearing what you all think of my mess! Don't know when the next update will be, but keep your eyes peeled!**


	5. Roast Fest 2: Electric Boogaloo

It's still has been quiet in the universe, and the Legendary Defenders were still not needed in weeks, for some odd reason. The paladins of Voltron and the last Alteans where beginning to think that the Garla empire just stopped taking of the universe, because there was no other explanation for their convenient pause in evil doing. But team Voltron didn't think too hard on it.

Everyone gathered in the common room of The Castle of Lions. Allura and Shiro were discussing the next training session for the team. While Pidge, Coran and Hunk were playing the Altean version of poker and it was obvious that Pidge has been cheating.

Besides Coran's yelling, all was somewhat calm and quite in the castle with the comforting hum as it flew through space. That is until Lance barged in.

"Sup losers," Lance yells as he struts into the common room showing off his new threads. Keith reluctantly follows in behind him hand in hand. "Look how cute I am!" He let go of Keith's hand to strike another dumb anime pose. He puts two fingers against the side of his face, then proceeds to vouge.

Keith stood behind Lance as he pranced around, he pulls the hood of Lance's jacket over his face to hide from the secondhand embarrassment that was emitting from Lance. He knew this was a bad idea, but he went along with it always just to shut Lance up.

Everyone else went silent after the red and blue paladins entered the room. Pidge, Hunk and Coran had stopped their game to look up in awe as Hunk sneakily stole from the winning pot. Shiro looked to Keith in confusion trying to find an answer, but Keith shook his head as to say 'for the love of god, don't ask.' While Allura stood there paralyzed with surprise her hand to her mouth.

Although the silence didn't last long as Allura broke it with a loud snorting laugh. She laughed so hard that one of the mice hiding in her hair fell to the ground. The others follow her lead as they all burst out laughing, Pidge literally rolls on the floor laughing.

"What on Altea have you two gotten yourselves into?" Allura gasps through her laughter, "Is this- ha- some sort of bonding exercise?" She picks up the mouse unscathed from its fall and placed it back on her shoulder.

Pidge sits up and wipes a tear from there eye. "Oh they _bonded_ alright." They made eye contact with Lance and wiggled their eyebrows.

"Pidge stop that!" Lance yells back at the tiny paladin. "And what did I say about those eyebrows?"

Pidge contented to wiggle their eyebrows so much so that Hunk joined them, despite Lance's whining. Lance kept dancing around but now added a new move that involved flipping Hunk and Pidge the bird.

Shiro quickly intervened in Lance's nonsense, "So did you two finally make up?" He said as he attempted to restrain Lance's hands.

"More like 'make out'!" Pidge snickered and gives Hunk a high-five but they both miss in spectacular fashion.

Lance and Keith exchange a tender look both thinking back to what almost happened in the observatory. What was probably less than an hour ago, now felt more like days. They had shared an intimate moment of bonding that had gotten too deep. One thing lead to another and that another was an almost kiss. But what had stopped from committing to it?

"No!" Lance snapped his view away from Keith.

Right, Lance's stupidity.

"The asshole still hasn't apologized yet!" He yells red faced though from anger or embarrassment he didn't know.

Keith wanted to remain calm in this situation to keep a level head but Lance drove him crazy with this stubborn 'rivalry'.

"You apologize!" Keith says with so much force that the hood slides off his head. "I didn't do anything!"

Shiro had to forcefully pull the two apart by the collars of their jackets. Keith's jacket however strained against Lance's body from the tension and looked rather painful.

"It looks like Keith's clothes look are a little small on you Lance." Shiro said place both boys back down.

Lance scoffs, "That's because I'm talker than the walking mullet." He aggressively straightens out his outfit.

"Barely.."

"Oh yeah? You want to go? Let's go samurai, back-to-back!"

Keith rolled his eyes as he played along once again if only to shut Lance up. The two press their backs together.

"Well?" Lance says, "Who's taller?"

Shiro got up close to the two to examine the difference, "I don't know," he scratches his head. "It's too close to call."

"Anyone have a tape measure?" Hunk asks from across the room.

"Oh yeah sure, let me just get my tape measure that I packet for space." Pidge says sarcastically

"Pidge can you stop being sassy for a minute, this is serious business."

"We literally pilot giant metal cats that form a big space robot, I am being as serious as I can be."

Coran chimes in "I might be of assistance." He brings out a little box from his pocket. He turns it on and a laser beams comes out from it and down to the ground. It glows with Altean symbols that none of the paladins can understand.

"It appears that Lance is five Niches taller than Keith."

"HAHA!" Lance jumps away from Keith's back, "In your mullet face!" He once again breaks out into a dance this time flipping off Keith.

"Wait, what's are 'Niches'?" Hunk asks.

"Niches are Altean measuring units." Allura says

"Are they like inches or centimeters?"

"Do we still use the Imperial system if were in Space?" Shiro asks.

"I don't know," Hunk replies. "Shouldn't we use metric system instead?"

"Fuck No! Imperial or nothing, baby!" Pidge yells. "We put a man on the moon with the Imperial system! USA USA USA!" They jump up and pump their fist as they chant.

"Pidge, sit down and calm down." Shiro says in his fatherly tone of voice.

"Besides." Keith directs to Pidge. "Did we really put a man on the moon?"

"Shit, you right."

"Pidge, Keith." Shiro said in a stern voice. "We are literally flying through space right now, enough with your conspiracy theories."

"And who cares whatever a niche is?! I'm five times taller than than Keith." Lance proudly continues his dance.

"That's not how it works." Keith says. "You dumbass."

"I'm sorry I can't hear you from way down there, shorty!"

"I feel personally attacked right now." Pidge, the obvious shortest one, says.

"Wait hold on." Hunk interrupts Lance's happy dance. "I just want to check." He takes the Altean measuring tool and compare a niche to his own knuckle which is about an inch. "Welp it looks like five niches are about one inch."

"So Lance is an inch taller?" Coran asks.

"Inch. Inch and a half maybe."

"Still taller!"

Keith had given up on rolling his eyes or sighing, it just wasn't working to express his true distance. He would have to come up with another form of protest.

"Well if it's worth anything Keith, I think you look nice." Shiro said tousling Keith's hair.

"Shiro!" swatted away his brother's hand and attempts to fix his hair.

"He's right Keith you do look rather charming." Allura added.

"You mean he looks better because he's in my clothes and not his?" Lance throws into the mix.

"No, we mean Keith makes your clothes look better," Pidge says.

Keith crosses his arms triumphantly and gives Lance a smug smile. Lance wants to wipe the floor with that damn smile. He wanted to see Keith smile more but like after Lance said something funny, not at his own expense.

"Keith looks cute with that big jacket on" They continue.

Keith is genuinely surprised "Wow thanks, Pidge."

"Yeah it has that 'I stole my bf's jacket' feel."

"Uhh never mind."

"How can you all gang up on me like this! I feel so attacked right now!"

"Pfft, it's not like you came out here to have a good time or anything." Pidge says.

Coran perks up, "I recognize that meme!" He yells proudly.

"Good for you Coran." Pidge says, "You're getting better."

"Besides Lance, your look isn't complete." Hunk chimed in.

"What do you mean?"

"Well you're missing the piece de resistance."

"Oh yeah, the thing that makes the outfit…" Pidge says.

"Pulls it all together!" Hunk finishes their sentence.

"Yes," Allura says catching on to their meaning. "The very thing you hate the most."

"Are you talking about Keith's hair?" Coran asks.

"What?!" Lance screamed.

"Yeah, you don't have a mullet." Keith smirked.

"Why would I want a stupid mullet!"

"Says the boy wearing my 'stupid' clothes." Keith retorts back calmly.

Lance points an accusative finger at Keith, "Says the boy wearing _my_ clothes."

Keith shrugs bring up the overabundant fabric to his shoulders. "It was your idea man."

Lance took a deep breath, "An idea _you_ agreed to." He pokes Keith in the chest.

"True, but like I've said before I'm totally willing to cut my hair. That is if you're willing to grow yours out." Keith got right up into Lance face. "You know? For science."

"Get dunked on!" Allura yells from across the room, "Was that good Pidge?" She looked to the green paladin for approval.

Pidge placed on hand up to their mouth and the other over their heart as they started to tear up. "I-" They pause for dramatic effect, "-have never been more proud of anyone until this moment!" They wipe a tear from the corner of their eye. Allura beams with a great big smile, while Coran is quietly sulking to himself.

Keith is still up in Lance's face, to Lance's dismay. He tries to not look Keith in the eye, his purplish-gray eyes that always had a spark of deamination in them. He nearly forgot about his other teammates getting lost in Keith's eyes, nearly.

Lance pushes Keith away clearing his throat and mind as he addresses the others. "Well you know what I didn't want to bring out the big guns, but I think I have to now!"

The group mutters among themselves asking about 'Big Guns' and what the hell Lance was going on about.

Lance cracks his fingers and stretches each of his ten digits. He takes in a deep breath rolling his neck around. He has the most determined look on his face as he meticulous rubs his hands together building up steam. He pulls back one of his hands and pitches his 'Boyyyy Roast Hand' directly to Pidge.

"Pidge why you got that shorts and turtle neck jacket combo, looking like a turtle at Schlitterbahn."

Pidge raised their arm in question. "I pretended to be a boy. For this?" They deadpanned.

Lance spins and his hand lands on Hunk who wasn't prepared, "Boy you ain't Naruto why you wear a headband like you trying to be the next Hokage!"

"Dude what are you talking about, you wore a headband back in middle school," Hunk starts to sniffed, "We were Ninja buddies!"

Lance breaks character to console his friend "Hunk I love you but don't bring up the dark days of middle school." He clears his throat and returns to his roast

Lance rotates his body to build back up his roasting momentum, his hand searching for his next victim. He unfortunately lands on Shiro.

"Space dad, looking like winter solider, think you're so hot with the one glove on your robo arm."

Shiro points to himself, "I thought you said you liked it?"

"I changed my mind!" He spins back around "Your still hot tho" He said the last part so fast leaving Shiro in state of confusion.

"And Allura and Coran!" He points at them but blanks out, "Get a pass cause they from another planet! Coran's mustache is p rad! Looking like Nigel Thornberry!"

"Why thank you, my boy!" Coran says proudly. "I think."

"And Allura is a literal space goddess!" to which Allura rolls her eyes in response.

Lance is hunched over hands on his knees dramatically panting over the surge of energy he used to 'roast' his friends. And yet he still has a proud smile slapped on his face.

Keith looks down on him and shakes his head out of shame, but still crakes a smile. "You are so dramatic, it's pathetic." Keith crossed his arms causing the fabric of Lance's jacket to bunch up around his arms.

Lance's head snapped up face Keith with anger, but when their eyes met Lance's expression softened. He looked Keith up and down seeing how aesthetically pleasing Keith looked in his jacket. He thought back to what the others had said about how cute Keith look and by god were they right. And not to mention that smile, Lance would lay down his life to see Keith smile. He got his second opinion and he had lost.

"That's it!" Lance yells trying to cover up his reaction, "We're all trading clothes!"

"Is this some more bonding thing for Earthlings?" Allura said leaning to Coran

Coran stokes his mustache, "I'm not quite sure, princess."

Lance starts aggressively taking his clothes off, but is having trouble because of how tight Keith's clothes fit him.

"Lance keep your pants on!" Shiro yells racing over to cover Pidge's eyes.

"Dude!" Hunk said coving his own eyes

"There not my pants," Lance screams hopping around trying to wiggle out of the pants. "They're Keith's!"

Keith can't believe what he's witnessing. Lance in all his dumbassery glory, is making a complete fool of himself. Keith wasn't really shocked at the other boys action, he was more surprised by the fact that he found him slightly endearing. Lance did all this to prove a point and yet he was wrong, everyone had agreed that he, Keith, wore it better. And yet, Keith couldn't get over how cute Lance is prancing around in his clothes and throwing a fit. Keith may have won the so-called 'beauty pageant', but Lance had won Keith's heart.

He also deiced to look away from Lance who was still having trouble taking his pants- or um _his_ \- as in Keith's pants- off. If he didn't look back in Lance's room, he wasn't going to now. Both times took a lot of will power.

Whatever was going on between the two of them was obviously complicated, and Keith was too scared to explore it further. They were becoming such better friends the past few days, Keith hoped they wouldn't wreak it with this complex feelings. That _he_ wouldn't wreak their growing friendship. For Lance's sake and for the sake of Voltron.

 **This chapter was a fucking mess, but I had a fun time writing it so I hope you had a fun time reading it!**


	6. This is Normal, right?

**Well well well if it isn't me, I'm sorry this one took for ever to update you guys. But I'm loving the feed back, good to know yall are enjoying my shitty shitty work.**

Keith leaned up against the mechanical door inside his room and looked up at the ceiling.

He's back in his normal clothes, thank god. The fiasco with Lance's 'beauty pageant' back in the common room had escalated downhill real fast. Once Lance started to strip it all went to hell, and Keith knew he had to get out of there, and quick.

Everyone else thought it would be fun to follow Lance's lead and trade clothes as well. Hunk had strained himself trying to put on Pidge's little jacket, but his bulging triceps only allowed the sleeves half way up his arms. Pidge however, had no trouble in Shrio's vest, it hung on their body like a dress, they even thought it was worth a twirl. While Allura had neatly tied Hunk's headband around her own head, and the mice had a fun time playing with the excesses of the orange string. Coran had Shrio's singular fingerless glove on one of his hands, he flipped his hand around to examine in a motion Lance described as the 'Single Ladies' dance. All the while Shiro had on Allura's dress- which everyone agreed suited him very well.

"It brings out the color of your eyes," said the original owner of the dress, Allura.

It had become a mess and Keith had to leave. He quietly slipped out when Lance was teaching Allura and Coran about the supreme leader of Earth, 'Beyoncé'.

One in the comfort of his own room Keith let out deep breath, he was happy just to have a moment to himself. He pushes off from the door and notices the familiar weight in his hand, he hadn't notice before he left but it seemed that he was still in position of Lance's jacket. He really should return it to Lance, eventually…

Keith sat down on the edge of his bed thinking back to the observatory, Lance's safe space, a place Lance had welcomed him in. Lance had trusted him enough to talk to share feelings, hopes and dumb jokes. To forget about the rivalry between them and open up to each other. And yet, Keith still felt like an outsider around Lance, like he didn't deserve to be around him. Or anybody…

But looking down at Lance's cargo pilot jacket, Keith couldn't help but to smile. Keith followed a small impulse burning in his chest and gently presses his face into the folds of the jacket. Once again inhaling that cucumber-y lotion and oh-so Lance scent, but this time savoring it. Keith found himself smiling into the fabric, thinking of the other boy's laugh and smile and-

A knock.

A knock at the door.

A knock at _his_ door.

Keith was knocked out of his trance by the sudden knock, jolting up Keith threw the jacket up caught in the act red-handed. "Shit," Keith whispered under his breath, he scrambled out of his bed, guilt pushing up to the door.

He opened the sliding mechanical door only to be on the level of a pair of blue blue eyes. Lance. It was Lance standing in front of him, because of course it was Lance. He was back in his original clothes, excluding the jacket of course, wherever could that jacket be?

Lance cleared his throat, "I-uh noticed you left." His voice seeming to waver.

It was Keith's turn to speak. _Shit,_ he thought. "Yeah, it was… getting crazy." He replied, trying to act like he wasn't just huffing his rival and teammate's property.

"When did you leave?" Lance continued.

"Sometime after Shiro had Allura's dress on."

"Oh man, you missed a doozy" Lance says. "Though I got to say, Shiro looks surprisingly good in a dress."

"Eh," Keith shrugged, "it's not like I haven't seen him it before. It's not the first time he's worn a dress, it's not even the second."

"Wait, what?" Lance dead panned.

"So," Keith said ignoring his dumbstruck question, "what are you doing here?"

"Oh yeah, right." Lance digs in his pants pockets and holds out Keith's fingerless gloves, "Here."

Keith gently takes them, "I forgot about them."

"Really? You didn't realize your little fingies were naked?" Lance twirled his own fingers to infuses his point.

Keith puts the gloves back on his hands, he looked down at them as he caressed the leather fabric with his thumb. Did they feel different? Warmer maybe? Was it because of Lance? Or was this new-found warmth from everyone else tried them on as well.

"So.." Lance clears his throat and Keith looks back up to the other boy. "I returned your gloves, sooo I'm just gonna…" He snaps and awkwardly finger guns in the other direction.

"No, wait!" Keith quickly blurts out stopping Lance in his tracks. Keith ducks into his room trying to remember what he was looking for. He glanced over his shoulder to see Lance teetering back and forth on his feet at the entrance to the room. "You can come in, you know."

"Oh? Ok." Lance stepped through the threshold of the door as it slides closed behind him.

Keith finally spots the balled-up jacket tucked behind his bed. "Here," he hands it to Lance. "You were right," Keith says, a small smile forming on his face. "It does keep me warm." _Shit._ Did really just say that last part out loud? He must have sounded like a huge creep.

Lance's blue eyes widen and his checks brighten to a pink hue. He snatches his jacket out of Keith's hand. "Your clothes are dumb, or whatever," he throws it over himself in one fell swoop the jacket is back on his body. "Hope you didn't get any gross mullet hair on it."

Keith's eyes narrow in suspicion, "You really don't like my hair do you?" Lance was always looping back to his hair, and Keith wanted to get to the bottom of it.

"I mean- it's a stupid hair style- I don't care jeez!"

"Hm, I see." Keith quickly ties his hair in a messy pony tail, and before Lance can question the motive, Keith whips out his knife and places it to the nape of his own neck. "So I could just cut it off?"

"Dude what the quiznaking hell?!" Lance screamed.

"Like I said, I don't care about my hair," Keith said adjusting the blade, "If it bothers you so much I can cut it off, right here, right now." He's tone intensified.

"Dude, are you taking your own hair hostage?" his voice cracking.

"Lance." Keith said in a dry tone with such seriousness. The blade edging closer and closer to his hair, Lance could already see black stands falling through the air.

"Stop, wait don't do it!"

"Ah ha!," Keith said triumphantly, "I knew you'd stop me." He gestured his knife at Lance.

Lance threw his hands into the air as self-defense. "Wow, okay first off be careful were you point that thing man." He points to the accusing knife, "And secondly, I have stated on many occasions how much your dumb hair annoys me!"

"Yeah, but every time, someone mentions cutting my hair you freak out!" Keith replies, "Admit, you like my hair!"

Lance sputters out random noise as his cheeks turn an embarrassing shade of pink, "That's not true!" he yells coving his tracks, "Mullets are dumb and a time capsule of the worst fashion choices of the 80s and 90s!"

"Oh yeah?" Keith taunts with a smirk, "Then why do you like my hair so much?"

"I DON'T LIKE YOUR HAIR, I LIKE YOU!" Lance exploded. "Quiznak- I meant-"

"You-you like me?"

"As a friend! As a rival, space ranger, paladin dude bros!" Lance blurted out coving his tracks.

"I like you- as a friend too." It wasn't a complete lie, Keith does like Lance… as a friend, but there was also something else. Would it be considered a lie if you were withholding certain details?

The two boys stood in the middle of Keith's room in complete silence, both avoiding eye contact with the other. Lance teetered on either foot, as if he was going to lose balance. While Keith fidget with his gloves.

"Well," Lance finally piped up. "If we're being honest I think I should tell you something else." Lance could feel his heart beating loudly in his chest, he took a deep breath. "Irememberyoucradlingmeinyourarms," he said in a jumbled mess.

Keith blinked a few times to prosses what Lance just blurted out "What?"

Lance kicked a foot out, "I remember you cradling me in your arms, okay?" he huffed.

Keith stands slack jawed for a moment, then collects himself. "So, wait, why did you pretend you didn't remember our bonding moment?

There was a small pause as Lance thought on his next words. "I didn't want to give you the satisfaction." He replied bitterly.

Keith found his words hurtful yet familiar, "Oh Haha. Very funny."

"It's just…" Lance sighs dragging his hands down his face, "You didn't remember me from the Garrison, so… You know… Pay back."

"Yeah, I get it." Keith replied somberly.

Lance tightly clutched the fabric of his jacket hanging off his body.

Keith rubbed his gloved and on the back of his neck.

The red paladin's room was again filled with an awkward aura, that neither could escape. Was that it, right? Lance got his jacket back and Keith his gloves, everything back in its place. Back to their normal? Back to fighting over nothing and competing for an empty prize. Was this all they had to say to each other?

No.

There was one more thing both boys had to say. And it was not going to like their normal, it was going to change it

"Lance." "Hey, Keith.."

"Oh." "Oops"

"You go first." "Go head."

They both chuckle as they avoid direct eye contact with the other.

"I wanted to apologize." "I'm sorry."

There was a long pregnant pause between the two paladins, both of their mouths agape. Lance's big blue eyes widened as Keith blinked a few times to adjust to what was just said.

"You… Apologized?" Keith's voice cracked.

"No nope nah, you apologized first!" Lance vigorously points a sender finger at the red paladin. "Not me!"

"We apologized at the same time, Lance!"

"You were a tick a head of me and you know it!"

"God damn it Lance we we're having a bonding moment!" Keith said rising his tone. "Maybe this time won't forget!"

"I'm sorry I lied about the cradling, okay?" Lance said matching Keith's tone.

Keith angrily stepping closer to the blue paladin, "I'm sorry about the Garrison!"

"I'm sorry I was a dick to you!" Lance raising his tone and shorting the distance between the two of them, aggressively entering Keith's personal bubble.

"Well I'm sorry how I reacted!" Both now up close and in each other's face.

"I except your apology, Mullet!"

"I except _your_ apology, Cargo pilot!"

The tension in the room sky rocket to space, flying into a portal and went to a whole new galaxy and stated floating around like space dust. Had this become their new normal? Was this what their relationship was going to be like, yelling their emotions at each other?

Lance sighed gathering himself, "Look, I am really sorry though. I made fun of your clothes."

"Yeah, but I made fun of your intelligence."

"Bro it's fine, I'm a dumbass." Lance waved it off.

Keith scoffed, "No you aren't Lance, your smarter than you give yourself credit for."

"Wha- you really think so?" Lance blushed creeping up on his tan skin.

"Yeah you were high ranked back at the Garrison."

"Always behind you tho." he said out of a side way mouth.

Keith rolled his eyes at Lance's comment, "That just means you were better than everyone else."

Lance smiled, not a cocky smirk, but a genuine smile with teeth and everything. "Thanks, mullethead."

This was what Keith had felt earlier in the observatory, to be around Lance without any hostility and or competition. To be alone with Lance and to truly get to know him.

They had learned so much about each other the past week, and yet there was more. Neither of them really talked about their personal life before, and the mind melding would only show so much. The whole team was too busy saving the universe, to really talk to each other. So, it was nice for them all to do something stupid like trading clothes in order to bond Keith enjoyed these bonding moments with the other paladins, especially with Lance. And apart of Keith want to tell Lance that, but he stayed quite out of fear and rejection.

"Well thanks for giving back my jacket"

"And thanks for my gloves."

"Ok. Cool." Lance turns to leave but stops himself at the door, he spins back around on his heels. "Wanna hangout more, or something"

"Like back at the observatory?"

"Yeah sure? Or in the training dreck when your ungrounded or-"

"I'm ungrounded!" Keith blurted out a little more eagerly then he hoped.

"Oh, good." Lance said, "Maybe we can train and I can kick your ass." He snaps and finger-guns.

"Sure." Keith rolled his eyes, there's the cocky Lance he knew.

"But, I was thinking more like just talking and chilling." Lance said rubbing the back of his neck. It was weird to see his personality shift so quickly, cocky and sure of himself to unsure and reserved. The duality of Lance.

"Yeah, anytime." Keith nodded his head vigorously.

"You're also free to chill with Pidge, Hunk and I whenever." Lance half hazardly placed his hand on Keith's shoulder. "Were all a team, but we're also friends, right." Lance smiled.

Oh that damn smile, Keith almost didn't notice how his heart sank a bit when he said 'friends,' but why? He so desperately wanted to be friends with the other paladins, even back at the Garrison. So why did Keith feel so hollow when Lance, with his bright white smile and blue eyes, implied friendship between the two of them?

"Friends." Keith replied, "Yeah, we are friends." He placed his hand on top of Lance's shoulder, paralleling Lance's hand on his own shoulder.

Lance eyes widened again, he glances down at where Keith's hand lay. He pulled away so fast that Keith was almost lunging after his touch. He cleared his throat and put on a fake laugh. "So see you around, right."

"Yeah," Keith nearly whispered mourning lack of warmth Lance had given him.

Lance turned to leave again and yet again stops himself, "I also wanted to say…" He cut off as if he was struggling to say the next words, "I hate your choice of style, but that doesn't mean I hate how you wear it."

Keith would be lying if we said he completely understood what Lance was saying, but it was heartfelt enough that it had caused him to blush. "Thanks Lance." He could feel his face betray him as his lips formed a slight smile and cheeks turned a pink hue.

Lance chocked on air, "Okcoolbi-Imeanbye!" he yelled covering up his cough and finally leaving Keith's room.

The atmosphere changed as soon as Lance was out and once again Keith was alone. As soon as he could move again, Keith leaned up against his door, trying to make sense of what the hell just occurred in his room just now. In hindsight, they both could have handled the simple exchange of clothing better, but both boys where confused teens that don't know how to cope with feelings.

He looked down at his gloved hands, flipping them around a few times to feel if there was any change. They didn't look different, but something definitely _felt_ different. But was it just the gloves or was it-

 _Shit._ Keith thought to himself.

"Shit." Keith said out loud to himself.

There was no denying it know, not after everything that has transpired throughout the past week or so. Keith had feelings for Lance, and more than the friend kind of feelings. Like a real pinning attraction, that made him blush, that made him smile, that made him feel like he was losing his grip on reality.

 _Shit._

How could he have let this happen, he hadn't had a crush in years, he'd been too busy. So why now? Why in the middle of a galactic war with purple space cats? And why Lance? When did this happen and for how long? Back at the Garrison? When they found Blue? When Lance roasted his clothes a few weeks ago?

Keith was having a mental meltdown trying to decode his emotions. Unbeknownst to him on the other side of the mechanical door, Lance was having the very same break down.

The blue paladin was mirroring the red paladin, leaning against Keith's door holding himself in a hug. His hands run up and down his arms to try and calm himself, feeling the fabric of his jacket bunch up with each stroke. The jacket felt weird, not a bad weird just different, warmer maybe.

"Quiznak," Lance whispered to himself.

This was going to be their new normal, dancing around their feelings and each other? Trying to save face and keep cool when around one another? This wreaked everything, it wreaked their new-found friendship not only with each other but with the other paladins as well. But they nearly kissed back in the observatory, they traded clothes, hell they even somewhat confessed they liked each other. So why was this so- complicated?

Both boys on either side of the door sighed, releasing some unwanted tension.

Keith put his head in his gloved hands and ran his fingers through the very mullet Lance said he liked on him.

Lance tugged the hood of his jacket and tightened the tie strings so that all he could see was the inside of the very jacket Keith has said kept him warm.

"Shit." "Quiznak."

 _This is definitely going to mess with Voltron._

 **The end! Of this story anyways. Sorry it may not have ended the way yall wanted but I do like my slow burn fics how I like my bbq meats, roasting in a dark pit alone for a few days.**  
 **I plan on writing more after this story, so don't you worry. I'm out of school out of work and I got the whole summer to write, hell I might even write smut. WHO KNOWS?!**  
 **Thank you again for reading and being patient all this time, love hearing from you guys!**


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